Woman indicted on child exploitation charges

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The Puerto Rico Crimes Against Children Task Force, led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), arrested a teacher from Mayaguez March 6 on criminal charges related to child exploitation.

On Feb. 29, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico indicted Kiara Ramos Melendez, 29, with one count of coercion and enticement of a minor and one count of receipt of child exploitation material.

According to court documents, from November 2022 through October 2023, the defendant used her cellphone and internet instant messaging services to persuade and entice a boy between 13 and 14 years of age to engage in sexual activity and to request and receive sexually explicit images of him. From November 2022 through April 2023, Ramos Melendez received sexually explicit images of the boy via WhatsApp.

“Individuals in a position of public trust have the responsibility to protect our most vulnerable. A teacher is one of the first lines of protection of our minors. Predators don’t have a profile; they come in all genders. It is our job to investigate them all and protect our children,” said HSI San Juan Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos. “HSI is vigilant, and we will not let one individual tarnish the name of all the amazing teachers that have a real commitment to teach and, most importantly, protect their students.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to aggressively investigate and prosecute persons who exploit minors for sexual purposes,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico W. Stephen Muldrow. “The defendant, who was entrusted by the community to protect and teach our children, violated that sacred trust by assaulting a child. As this case demonstrates, we will aggressively target those who prey on children.”

If convicted of coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual conduct, Ramos Melendez faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years up to life, and for receipt of child sexual abuse material, she faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 5 years up to 20 years. She must also serve a term of supervised release after imprisonment of no less than 5 years and up to life. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daynelle Alvarez Lora of the Child Exploitation and Immigration Unit is prosecuting the case.

For more information about HSI’s efforts to protect children from sexual predators, visit iGuardians™: Combating Child Predators. To report suspicious activity, call 787-729-6969.

For more information about HSI’s efforts to protect children from online sexual abuse, visit HSI's iGuardians program.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. attorneys’ offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.